The Pittsburgh Steelers are willing to embrace new technological ideas even if it hurts.
During the offseason practices, the Steelers experimented with Schutt Vision technology in order to get a first-hand look at what the players see on the field. SchuttVision is a full contact-capable helmet that has a high-definition video camera built into it. It records what a player sees and can sometimes be used as a teaching tool.
So what does Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin think about Schutt Vision?
“I got a headache,” said Tomlin. “That thing is tough to follow.”
If you watch the video below, you can see why Tomlin might have needed an aspirin or two after watching quite a bit of related footage.
“This time of year, it’s appropriate to be open to the growth of technology in our game,” said Tomlin. “So I’ll do things such as that – look at innovative things and see if it can be useful to us. That gave me a headache.”
While the players apparently haven’t seen their own video just yet, Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley has, according top the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
“You can identify the fronts and when we are pointing out (middle linebackers) and stuff like that because usually the eyes are looking where he’s pointing,” Haley said. “You can see the direction the head is at the snap. It’s interesting technology. It’s a neat concept. We haven’t done a whole bunch with it, but the technology is phenomenal. If not for anything else, it forces the player that has it on to be on his P’s and Q’s.”
We will see if the Steelers continue to use this as a teaching tool moving forward. It certainly appears that it could be useful in observing specifically what a certain player is looking at during his pre snap reads without getting a headache.
